


Michael Guerin is a Grower

by skinsharpenedteeth (Skinsharpenedteeth)



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Communication, Gardens & Gardening, House Sitting, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Plants, Service Dogs, partially sentient plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28935270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skinsharpenedteeth/pseuds/skinsharpenedteeth
Summary: Alex's application for a service dog is accepted and he has to spend three weeks in Florida for training with his new animal. His request was simple: Water my plants, pick up my mail. Michael may have done more than that.
Relationships: Michael Guerin & Alex Manes, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 26
Kudos: 136
Collections: Michael Guerin is a Grower





	Michael Guerin is a Grower

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of the write-along (draw-along, sing-along, knit-along) event that was posted on the 18+ Roswell discord. It has not been beta'd so all mistakes are my own. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Michael could already feel the skin at his collar starting to burn from the afternoon sun overhead as he dragged Walt’s water hose from the side of the garage to where he’s strategically engineered safe gaps and holes towards the area behind his Airstream that was hidden by a stacks of old cars. He pushed the hose through the first hole as far as he could before dropping it to run to the other side to keep pulling it through. He’d half sunk an old truck bed into the open ground and lined it with sand and a heavy duty tarp to make himself a pond. One of the nice older ladies at the nursery outside of town had swapped him some water plants with credit left over for fixing the buildings A/C. He pulled the hose until it sat over the edge of the truck’s tailgate and pointed onto the tarp. 

“Turn on the water, Walt!” he yelled loudly over the stacked cars. A second later the water burst to life, spilling bright and clear from the hose onto the blue tarp. Michael smiled as he watched it starting to pool and fill in the truck bed. A crunching of gravel around the corner let him know Walt had joined him. 

“You really have too much time on your hands, kid,” Walk commented as they stood next to each other watching the water fill in. 

“Ha, that’s what you think. I’ve got plans. I’m going to get some of that scrap metal sheeting to create a shaded area over part of this so I can build up some raised beds. I’ve got a lead on some free rain barrels that I’m going to use to collect water to use with soaker hoses and then we’re going to have a couple vegetable beds going back here by next spring,” Michael explained, excitement creeping into his voice in a way it normally wouldn’t in front of anyone else. Walt was family and he wouldn’t make fun of Michael’s plans to make an upcycled garden hidden in the bowels of the junkyard. 

“It’ll be something to see, for sure,” Walt said, clapping Michael on the back. “I’m going to go back to work. Yell when you want me to shut off the water.”

“Sure,” Michael said, distracted as he grabbed a folding chair he’d duct taped an umbrella to and set it up so he could watch the water fill in. The shade of the umbrella felt good and he leaned back and shut his eyes, imagining all the things he wanted to do to make this area he’d carved out for himself functional and beautiful. He was building a greenhouse out of old windows in his mind when his phone started ringing in his shirt pocket. He dug it out and swiped to connect without looking at the display. 

“It’s Michael,” he announced to whoever was on the line as he stretched his legs out in front of him and slumped further into the folding chair. 

“Hey Michael,” Alex’s voice answered tentatively. Michael didn’t sit up, but his attention sharpened at the slightly nervous way Alex answered him. Things were good between them right now… which means they hadn’t hung out in about a week and had stuck to short bursts of texting instead of talking face to face about  _ anything _ . 

“Hey…” Michael responded, hearing the same hesitance enter into his own tone. He cleared his throat and pushed himself back to sitting up halfway straight in the chair. “What can I do for you?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. He could feel Alex debating in his head and it stung a little that both of them were still at the stage where they had to weigh out their words. It was one of the reasons texting had worked so well, had felt so much more successful for communication between them than talking, but Alex had called so it must be something more than ‘Can you believe this shit Trump said on twitter?’

“I’m going out of town for three weeks. I, uh… I got approved to get a service dog for my PTSD. The facility is out in Florida. They’ve got a 21 day training program for me and the dog,” Alex said, words sounding like they were being forced out. Michael knew how much he hated to talk about what being in the military, being blown up, being a Manes Man had done to his health (mental and physical). He felt a weird sense of a weight of worry being lifted off his heart as he heard Alex talk. He hadn’t realized he’d even been concerned to that degree, but hearing Alex say he was getting some form of help made him aware that he had been. He’d always been worried about all the things Alex refused to talk about but carried around with him. 

“That’s… that’s great, Alex. I’m really happy to hear that. I bet you’re going to be an obnoxious dog dad, though. Should I go ahead and prepare my phone for the onslaught of dog pics?” Michael said, teasing Alex as gently as he could. He heard Alex laugh a little on the other side of the line. It sounded lighter than his voice had been a moment ago. 

“Jerk. I don’t even know what kind of dog I’m getting. I won’t know until I get there,” Alex said, finally letting some of his own excitement creep into his voice. Michael knew how much Alex loved animals and had always wanted a dog growing up. 

“Well, you’ll have to send me a photo the moment you can,” Michael said, already trying to decide if it would be overstepping to get Alex’s new dog some toys to come home to. 

“I will, man. But, the, uh, the reason I called is cause I need someone to watch the house. Like, water the plants, pick up the mail, make sure a nest of scorpions don’t move in unexpectedly…” 

“Ohhhh, now I know why you called. Alex Manes needs a favor from me, huh? Water the plants? Pick up the mail? This sounds like a lot of hard work,” Michael said, smiling at the phone despite Alex not being able to see him. 

“I’ll pay you in dog pictures and pizza money,” Alex offered, laughing at Michael’s ridiculous antics. 

“Pizza money? Why didn’t you say so? You’ve got a deal, Manes. When do you leave?” Michael eyed the water in his makeshift pond and pushed out of the seat to go turn it off himself. He didn’t want to yell into Alex’s ear just to get the water to turn off. 

“In two days. You can drop by tomorrow if you want and I’ll give you a key,” Alex offered. 

“Al-lex,” Michael said in faux exasperation. “I’m an alien. I can pick locks with my brain.”

“Well, maybe I can pay you up front with some pizza and beer then?” Alex responded casually. 

“Now we’re talking. Okay. I’ll come by tomorrow around six thirty. Sound good?” Michael asked as he reached the nozzle and shut off the water. 

“Yeah. See you then,” Alex said with a note of finality. 

“See you then,” Michael replied before hearing the line close between them. He stored his phone back into his pocket and started winding up the hose, residual water slithering out as he pulled it in. He couldn’t stop from imagining Alex happy and soft on his couch in a month with a dog curled into his side. Michael was already a little jealous of the mutt. 

\---

Michael stood outside Alex’s house a little nervous about knocking on the door and going in. He was a little early (by all of 10 minutes) and if he was honest with himself, he just wasn’t sure how to spend an evening with Alex where they didn’t end up naked, fighting, or uncomfortably ignoring their urge to do one or both. ‘ _ Chaos is change. Change is uncomfortable but necessary. You won’t ever get to a better place if you stand still. Knock on the goddamn door, Guerin,’  _ Michael said to himself silently. Taking a deep, calming breath he pressed the door bell and then knocked twice. He could hear as Alex moved through the house towards him, the echo-y double click telling him before Alex opened the door that his prosthetic was already off for the day and using his crutches. The door opened and then there was Alex, looking like a damn dream in his grey air force sweats and olive tee. He smiled at Michael and moved back to make room for him to come in. 

“Hey man. Thanks for coming. I was about to order the pizza. Still a pepperoni pineapple guy?” Alex asked as he used the side of one of his crutches to push the door closed behind Michael as he stepped into his front hallway. Michael ran a nervous hand through his curls and smiled, heart a little warm that Alex remembered his teenage pizza order. 

“Yeah, I’m still pepperoni and pineapple, but seriously I’ll eat anything so get whatever you want,” Michael replied. Alex laughed lightly at him and led the way towards his living room. Michael followed and did his best not to objectify Alex while they worked on their friendship but… damn,  _ that ass, though.  _

“So, I’ve got a snake plant in here by the window and a dragon plant in the corner over here. I’ve got an inch plant on the counter that I’m trying not to kill, but if I come back and it’s dead, no big deal. I’m doing a pretty good job killing it on my own and it’s supposed to be one of those foolproof plants. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong with it,” Alex babbled as he stopped in the middle of the living room and pointed out the plants he had. The failing inch plant was on the counter looking brown around the edges of its leaves and decidedly unhealthy. Michael frowned at it and thought he might ask Diane, the plant nursery lady, if she knew what could be wrong with it. He still had some credit with her after the A/C job and maybe it just needed some fertilizer. 

\---

Alex allowed Michael to drive him to the airport and see him off. Michael watched him wheel his suitcase into the airport terminal with his heart in his throat. He knew it wasn’t forever. He knew Alex wasn’t going anywhere dangerous, but it triggered something in him that made him think about that awful day Alex had left for basic. ‘ _ This is not then. He will be back before you know it,’ _ Michael consoled himself as he threaded the Chevy back into traffic and made the long drive back to Roswell.

The dinner had been nice, if a little awkward, but far better than anything they’d previously managed to pull off together alone. Leaving had been the hardest part for Michael who desperately wanted to kiss Alex at the door before going home for the night. The bittersweet look they shared made Michael sure Alex had been thinking down a similar lane. That was the hard part, knowing and wanting and holding back.

He pushed all his melancholy thoughts about leaving aside as he drove towards the nursery. He’d taken a picture of the plant on his phone the night of the dinner while Alex was paying the pizza delivery man and thought he’d show it to Diane while he picked up a couple bags of soil. He pulled into the gravel parking lot outside of the breezy hut that served as the central hub for Plantopia and parked by the door. As soon as his feet hit the gravel, Diane was out the door and greeting him. 

“Michael! Good to see you again. What brings you by?” she called out as she approached him. Diane was a medium height, stocky woman with close cropped dark brown hair and skin that looked like old leather, but her eyes were bright and her smile dazzling. Michael liked the infectious energy she seemed to bring to him. 

“I need to grab a couple bags of soil. I’m repurposing some old tires into planters and I need something to fill em with,” he explained, putting his hat on to shield some of the midday sun from his eyes. 

“Ohhh, that sounds like a fun project. What are you planting in them? Do you have any ideas?” she asked, smiling and leading him into the hut to enjoy the fans while they chatted. 

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe some yucca? I don’t have a cover for the pond up yet. Oh, and while I’m here, I’m plant sitting for a friend and he’s got a plant that looks terrible. I took a picture of it. Can you look at it and give me an idea what’s wrong with it?” he asked, pulling his phone out of his shirt pocket before he’d even finished asking. Diane looked at him a bit dubiously, but nodded. Quickly, Michael pulled up the picture of the inch plant and showed it to her. 

“Where in the house is this plant?” she asked, squinting and using her fingers to zoom and move the screen on his phone. 

“Uh, its on the kitchen counter right now. So, middle of the house?” he replied, watching her zoom in on the leaves of the plant. 

“Well, I can’t be for sure, but it might now be getting enough light? Inch plants want bright, diffused light. I might move it to a plant stand near an east facing window. It’ll get morning light which isn’t usually very harsh and then be in bright shade the rest of the day,” she advised. “Also, make sure it dries out between watering.”

“Right. I’ll see what I can do,” Michael replied, trying to remember if he knew how Alex’s house was oriented to the sun. 

“Hey, I have an ailing anthurium I was going to throw out. It’s not doing too poorly, but it isn’t going to sell and I don’t have the time to nurse it. It really just needs attention. Want to take it with you? It’s got the same needs as your inch plant and they might like a convalescence buddy,” Diane offered, smiling brightly up at him. 

“Sure, I’ll take it. Thanks, Di,” Michael responded, smiling at her. 

“Hey, no sweat. Now let’s go get your soil,” she said cheerily before grabbing a hand cart and starting to drag it out the back of the hut towards where the bags of soil were lined up against the perimeter wall of the nursery. Michael followed her, smiling softly to himself as he eyed the plants they passed. Something about greenery always made him feel peaceful. 

\---

**< Alex> So I got my dog today. It’s a Goldendoodle. ** **  
** **< Michael> A what now?** **  
** **< Alex> LOL. A Golden retriever/Poodle mix. He’s got curls like yours, but he’s that ginger blond most golden retrievers are. He’s cute. ** **  
** **< Michael> I don’t know why I haven’t received a pic yet. Holding out on me, Manes?** **  
** **< Alex> ** **_Picture Sent_ ** **_  
_ ** **< Michael> What’s his name?** **  
** **< Alex> Cowboy**

Michael snorted as he looked at the happy, intelligent face of the dog Alex had sent him **.**

**< Michael> Why Cowboy?** **  
** **< Alex> His curls remind me of yours. And he gets very affectionate when you praise him, ust like someone else I know. **

Michael blushed scarlet. Was Alex flirting? 

**< Michael> Just make sure he knows whose leg that is to hump. I won’t take kindly to competition. He’s already got me beat on talking back and following directions.** **  
** **< Alex> Jesus, Michael. **

There was a lull in the conversation. Michael had been laying in his bed with most of the lights off, eyeing the anthurium he’d brought back from the nursery with him. He wasn’t due to go over to Alex’s for a couple days so he set it on the fold down dining table near one of the windows. He’d been playing classical music for the last hour and a half after reading an article that said plants responded well to classical and jazz music. He thought maybe he was getting caught up in the whole plant rehab thing. It managed to take his mind off the fact that Alex hadn’t really responded to his flirty text back. He probably went too far. Story of his life. Michael’s phone dinged again with another incoming message and he looked down at his screen. 

**< Alex> I’m going to bed. I’ll talk to you later, okay?** **  
** **< Michael> Night. ** **  
** **< Alex> Night.**

\---

Two weeks passed. Michael had gotten up his sun shielding pergola constructed and had even added some privacy panels by upcycling some bifold louvered doors he’d found outside a house being renovated near Isobel’s. He’d gotten a few plants from the nursery and put in a fountain to help the water in his pond from getting scummy. He’d also painted the repurposed tire planters so that instead of black, they were turquoise, blue, and white. He was proud of his little area he was creating. He’d even found Walt out there sitting near the pond once morning soaking in the sun and looking practically zen. 

Two weeks also was enough time for him to have made headway on Alex’s inch plant and his new anthurium. Both had started to look better once Michael had gotten them together and in a good spot for the right type of sunlight. He thought all Alex’s plants had responded well to their music therapy that he’d started giving them three times a week when he dropped in to check on everything and grab the mail. He’d also managed to add a fiddle leaf fig, an alocasia, a coffee plant, and a crocodile fern to Alex’s growing indoor green space. Diane had been generous with trading plants for small odd fix-it jobs around the nursery. 

During one of Michael’s drop-in’s on Alex’s house, a week before he was due back, he was sitting outside on Alex’s patio texting back and forth while drinking a beer. Alex’s solar lights had popped on as night deepened around him and he could hear the classical study music channel he’d found on Youtube humming through the house’s bluetooth speakers. 

**< Michael>You don’t really have any outdoor plants. ** **  
** **< Alex> I hate to break this to you, but getting up and down from my knees is kind of a pain in the ass. It’s not impossible, but it makes the prospect of gardening a little harder to stomach. It seems like a lot of work and a lot of pain pills. ** **  
** **< Alex> Getting bored with my three little plants? Need something more to entertain you?**

Michael squirmed despite Alex not being there to see him. He hadn’t told him about the new plant babies Michael had adopted for him in his absence. 

**< Alex> Besides, while flowers are great and all… I kinda feel like the only outdoor gardening that interests me would be like… vegetables or herbs or something. Something useful. ** **  
** **< Michael> Yeah? What would you grow in your vegetable garden?** **  
** **< Alex> Hm. Peppers, squash, tomatoes, maybe cucumbers or something. I don’t really know what grows in New Mexico? This is the first time I’ve been anywhere long enough to consider something that permanent. ** **  
** **< Michael> A vegetable garden equals permanence?** **  
** **< Alex> In some ways, yeah. I mean, it’s pretty hard to pick it up and take it with you on the drop of a dime. It still feels weird to imagine that I’m not going anywhere unless I make the decision to leave. It’s comforting and terrifying. ** **  
** **< Michael> Interesting.** **  
** **< Alex> What about you?** **  
** **< Michael> I’m thinking about trying to have a garden behind the Airstream. Just some simple stuff at first like peppers or something. I love the idea of being able to grow my own food. Something like that would’ve made the lean years a little less lean if I’d had my wits about me. ** **  
** **< Alex> Ah, age and experience. ** **  
** **< Michael> Right. Age and experience. **

The normal conversation lull happened. Michael sipped his beer and thought about the space in front of him. Alex had a whole section of wall that was blank. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult to build a couple standing planter boxes and fill them with vegetable plants. Diane had talked to him about companion planting while he replaced a buckling metal table leg. He let himself imagine what he could use to make the planters, wondering if it would be worth it to just buy new materials or if he had anything he could upcycle from the junkyard. 

**< Alex>** **_picture sent_ ** **  
** **< Alex> Me and cowboy earlier today. He’s so smart. ** **  
** **< Michael> Another thing he has in common with his namesake. ;)** **  
** **< Michael> God you look good. Florida’s treating you well. ** **  
** **< Alex> I think Cowboy and being around the other servicemen is helping. It certainly makes a better argument for group therapy than my doctor did. ** **  
** **< Michael> Thinking about finding a group when you get back?** **  
** **< Alex> Maybe. We’ll see. Maybe it’s just the effect of the dog. **

Michael very much doubted this, but he wasn’t going to push. Pushing Alex was a sure way to get him to draw a line in the sand. 

**< Michael> When are you flying in again? Still okay for me to pick you up?** **  
** **< Alex> Yeah it’s fine. Next Sunday, 10 a.m. Delta. I’ll email you the flight details. ** **  
** **< Michael> Does Cowboy have to ride in the airplane’s hold or does he get a seat next to you?** **  
** **< Alex> He gets to sit next to me. ** **  
** **< Michael> Lucky dog. ** **  
** **< Alex> How long have you been waiting to make that joke?** **  
** **< Michael> How dare you insinuate that I plan my jokes beforehand. ** **  
** **< Alex>....** **  
** **< Michael> LOL. No really, just thought of it. Pretty good though. Definite Dad joke material. ** **  
** **< Alex> And on that note, I’m going to go to bed. Talk to you later. ** ****  
**< Michael> Night** **  
** **< Alex> Night.**

\---

“Kid, are you going to marry this guy?” Walt asked as he measured the cedar two by four to Michael’s specifications. Michael, meanwhile, working on hanging the coffee tins he’d turned into herb planters on the side of the adjacent to where they’d put the planter boxes when they were done. 

“God, I hope so,” Isobel’s voice chimed in from across the patio where she was drinking a margarita and watching the boys work. 

“You could help, ya know,” Michael grouched as he kept messing with the positioning of planters before their final attachment. 

“I am helping. I’m keeping morale up. As soon as Walt gets done cutting and you two start putting them together, I’ll order dinner for all of us,” Isobel retorted, smirking. Walt and Michael shared an eye roll before getting back to their individual tasks. The sun was practically set by the time the boxes were put together. 

“I’d let the glue set overnight before you start loading dirt into them. I know they’re screwed together also and that should keep them together, but you won’t be able to really see what you’re doing anyway until tomorrow,” Walt explained. They’d made three standing boxes that were about 28 inches off the ground. They had a drip pan underneath the boxes and a shelf for things that Alex might not need constantly. They weren’t exceptionally ornate, but they looked good in the space and would be functional for Alex so that he didn’t have to get down on the ground in order to garden. 

“Yeah, okay, that sounds good. Thank you so helping me with this, by the way. There’s no way I would’ve gotten this finished in two days by myself,” Michael said, giving Walt a shy smile. Walt clapped him on the shoulder and they headed towards the inside of the house where Isobel was laying out their take out orders on Alex’s tiny kitchen table. 

“Whew! You guys smell like hard work and cedar oil,” Isobel complained as they sat down to their Indian feast. 

“You can go home and eat if you want,” Michael commented as he tore a piece of naan in two and dipped it in his dal. Isobel narrowed her eyes at him. 

“Play nice, kids. I’m too old for this shit,” Walt interjected before Isobel could throw out her own barb. Instead, they sat quietly and ate their dinner. Michael and Walt talked about the garden area he was building behind the Airstream, throwing around ideas as to what to add next to the area. 

“You have a garden?” Isobel asked, looking over at Michael in surprise. 

“Kinda? I’m just trying out some stuff to see if I’m any good at it,” Michael hedged. He didn’t want to get roped into being Isobel’s gardener as well as her mechanic and muscle for hire. 

“Miss Nora was a great gardener, you know? She and Miss Louise saved the farm, of course, but she also had her own garden by the overseer’s house that was the prettiest in the county. She could grow anything. Her thumb wasn’t just green, it was emerald,” Walt said, voice going a little watery as it always did when he mentioned Michael’s and Isobel’s moms. Michael tried not to let the story weigh him down, but thinking of his mom was still sore for him. He wished… well, he wished a lot of things had gone down differently. 

“Well, maybe Michael inherited the skill then. Lord knows, I didn’t,” Isobel joked, giving Michael an encouraging smile over fork. Michael just gave her an appreciative, quick smile back and bent over his food to keep eating. 

\---

“So what’s the protocol with the new dog?” Michael asked, looking down at what must’ve been ninety pounds of apricot curls and puppy eyes. They were standing outside of the airport at the pick-up terminal. Michael tried not to stare at Alex too long, but he just looked… so, so good. There was a glow to his skin that hadn’t been there when he’d left for Florida that made Michael wanted to hold him until some of the shin rubbed off and he could feel it under his skin too. 

“So he’s really more of an emotional support animal. He’s trained with some stuff. Basically, if he's wearing his vest then he’s “working” and he needs to be left alone to focus on me. If he’s not wearing his vest he’s off duty and can just be a normal dog,” Alex explained, looking down at the dog fondly. The dog looked at him back, mouth hanging open in a doggy smile and Michael might’ve fallen in love with the mutt a little bit more. He knew endless adoration when he saw it. He’d been feeling it himself towards Alex for almost half his life. 

“Okay. Cool,” Michael responded, taking note that the dog was wearing his vest currently so he sidestepped Alex and grabbed his bag to throw into the back of the truck. They loaded into the truck and Cowboy got to sit in the middle, body half laying across Alex’s lap as they drove back to Roswell. 

“Did you get the stuff I asked for from the pet store?” Alex asked when they were almost back to his house. Michael’s heart was in his throat as he thought about all the surprises he had in store for Alex once they got there. He was worried it was too much, worried Alex would get overwhelmed, worried he’d fucked up and butted in where he wasn’t welcome. He had to clear his throat before speaking. 

“Yeah, I got the stuff. Kennel, food, bowls, bed, toys… the works. I put it all in your bedroom. I wasn’t sure where you wanted everything to go so I figured that would be easiest…” Michael finished, trailing off as he pulled into Alex’s driveway. He shut off the engine and moved to get out of the truck. 

“Oh, you’re staying for a while?” Alex asked, looking a little shocked. Michael froze and turned back to him. 

“I… I mean, I was going to stay for a couple minutes. Help you get your stuff in the house. Show you…. How well I took care of your plants and stuff,” Michael finished lamely. He felt like an idiot. Alex was tired, of course he didn’t want Michael hanging around. Alex smiled softly at him like he could hear Michael’s inner monologue. 

“No, it’s fine. I just didn’t know if you had anything else going on today. Thought maybe you needed to get to the junkyard. Come in, you can tell me about all the drama I missed,” Alex said, pushing out of the truck to stand. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like you’re unwanted. I just didn’t think you’d want to hang around.”

“Of course I do, Alex. I need you to get the vest off this dog so he and I can have a Come To Jesus over you,” Michael joked, pushing down his earlier flood of self-consciousness. The garden boxes he’d made for Alex were hidden from view by the half wall of his courtyard. Michael hung back, cowardly hiding behind his truck with the excuse of “getting Alex’s bag” while he waited. 

“Uh...Michael?” he heard Alex say, his voice confused but otherwise without emotion. ‘ _ Shit,’ _ Michael thought to himself before pulling the bag out of the truck bed and going to face the music. He sidled up next to where Alex was standing by one of his outdoor dining chairs. He was gripping the back of the chair and staring at the boxes, his brow furrowed in confusion, Cowboy sniffing his hand and pushing his nose against his palm. Alex looked over at him in disbelief and then back at the boxes. “What is all this?”

“I, uh… I made you a vegetable garden. It doesn’t have all that stuff you listed. It’s basically a salsa garden with more herbs. I, uh… I had help. Walt helped me put the boxes together and Isobel supervised. If you don’t want it, I can take them out. I just… thought maybe you’d like them,” Michael finished, looking at Alex for any clue that he liked his gift. When he didn’t respond, Michael started towards the boxes. “Look, I can take them out if you don’t like them. It was stupid of me to assume you’d--MMph!”

He couldn’t finish whatever he was about to say. He couldn’t finish because his mouth was being covered by Alex’s mouth. He kissed back while he had the chance and then tried not to whimper when Alex pulled away. When he opened his eyes he could see Alex was beaming at him, smiling brighter than the desert sun in July. 

“It’s great. I’m just surprised. You made this?” he asked, eyes returning to the boxes and cans. 

“Yeah, well… like I said, I had help,” Michael said, trying not to let his pride show too much over his work. 

“It’s… wow, Michael. Thank you. This is amazing,” Alex said, voice breathy as he looked back at Michael again. Michael thought he was about to get another kiss, but instead Alex wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him in tight to hug him. It was almost better than a kiss, getting to bury his face in Alex’s neck and smell the scent of his skin and feel his arms tighten around Michael like he wouldn’t let him go. “Thank you,” Alex whispered against his neck and Michael felt like his heart was going to crack his ribs from everything he was feeling. They held each other for a long, long moment and when Alex’s arms finally loosened from around Michael’s body, it felt like too soon. 

“Let’s go inside, I want to show Cowboy around the house,” Alex said, stepping back and turning to lead the way into the house. Alex let him get a few paces in front of him before following, needing the space to collect himself after the affection. He was just entering the front door when he heard Alex’s voice from the living room say, “Did it get a lot greener EVERYWHERE?” Michael hurried to the living room. The mantle and window were covered in plants that he’d gotten and nurtured back to health from Diane. It made the place feel homey in a completely different way than it had felt before Alex left. 

“Uh, yeah. So I know it’s a lot. Miss Diane at Plantopia, that nursery across town? She hired me to do some jobs for her and paid me in plants. She also helped me rehab your inch plant. Apparently, he wasn’t getting enough light over in your kitchen,” Michael explained, dipping his head to hide his face. He was blushing furiously now that he saw the transformation of the room from Alex’s perspective. He had gone a little overboard. 

“Michael, I swear… You’re amazing,” Alex said, his voice full of awe. Michael felt him grab his hand and squeeze it gently until Michael raised his eyes to look at him. “Can you put my bag in my room? I’m going to walk Cowboy around the house.”

“Sure,” Michael answered, letting his hand fall out of Alex’s grip and moving past him towards the bedroom. He heard Alex give Cowboy a quiet command and then they were doing their own thing and Michael was pushing into Alex’s bedroom and hauling his suitcase onto the top of his dresser. Once he’d finished, he sat down heavily onto the side of Alex’s perfectly made bed. He didn’t know why he felt like crying, but before he knew it his eyes were leaking tears down his cheeks as he tried to take deep breaths to calm himself. He was a second before getting into Ugly Crying when a blur of curls and hot breath bound into the room and jumped directly onto the bed and got into his face. 

“Ah! Cowboy! No!” Alex called before walking quickly into the room. Michael and Cowboy were already wrestling together on the bedspread. Tears forgotten, Michael laughed into the dog’s soft coat as they finally calmed down upon Alex’s entrance. Michael noted the vest harness in Alex’s hand as he watched in amusement as Cowboy tried to lick every part of Michael’s face. Eventually, the dog calmed down and settled heavily against Michael’s side. 

“Well, I guess he likes me,” Michael commented, grinning over at Alex who was still watching from the doorway. He looked like he was holding back laughter at their antics. 

“That makes two of us,” Alex commented, tossing the harness to the side and going over to lay on the bed on the other side of the dog. Michael looked over at him as he got his dose of face licks from the over enthusiastic Cowboy.

“At least I kiss better,” Michael commented slyly. Alex gently pushed the dogs muzzle away from his face. 

“Well,  _ now _ you do,” Alex teased, rolling his eyes.

“Hey!” Michael said, reaching over the dog to smack at Alex’s arm playfully. “I gave you nice green things and took care of your place. Be nice!”

“Yes, you certainly have me lots of green things. Guess you’re a grow-er  _ and _ a show-er?” Alex said, raising a sly eyebrow at his innuendo. Michael chuckled silently before groaning at the terrible joke. 

“Leave the dad jokes to me,” Michael said, sitting up on the bed. Alex grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down. 

“You got it,” he said simply and leaned in to close the rest of the space between their lips. Michael did know it, but when they kissed all the leaves in the living room rustled softly as if in applause. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Kudos and Comments make the world go-round!


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